1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a differential coupling and compounding power system for use in driving vehicles, such as automobiles, ships, aircrafts, industrial equipment and the like. More particularly, the invention is directed to a driving system that incorporates a primary gyroscopic power source and a magnetic coupling and driving device which can be used to individually or simultaneously control the output drive of the vehicle.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In recent years, energy and noise pollution have become extremely serious problems for power driven vehicles. Much attention has been given to producing energy and noise efficient electric vehicles. Even though a substantial amount of research and development has been done on such power vehicles, not that much has been accomplished in this area mainly because the capacity of known batteries are limited. If the volume of the battery is increased to fully meet output requirements, more power will be wasted in driving the vehicle because the weight of the vehicle would have to be increased due to the number of batteries needed. Providing an electric vehicle with a sufficient power source substantially comparable to the power obtainable through other known power sources including internal combustion engines is not proven to be economically feasible. Due to these problems, advancements in vehicle drives have recently concentrated on hybrid-type driving devices.
The most typical type of electric vehicle utilizing a hybrid drive is one which utilizes an internal combustion engine to drive a generator so as to produce power for charging the automobile's battery unit and then the battery unit supplies power to drive motors associated with the wheels of the vehicle. Although this type of vehicle has associated pollution reductions, it is simply not considered to be efficient enough.
Another type of vehicle hybrid drive system utilizes the power output shaft of an engine to drive a rotatable shaft of a driving motor by means of a series of clutches. The engine and motor are coaxially aligned and the series of clutches are selectively shifted to drive the car and control its speed. In this arrangement, either the engine or the motor can be chosen to output driving power, but the two power sources do not operate simultaneously.
Based on the above, it should be readily apparent that there exists a need in the art for a compound power system which can be used to drive a vehicle in a more energy and noise efficient manner.